


He Cannot Ask

by Incoherentbabblings



Series: Tumblr Ask Game Prompts [37]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Bad Ending, Bad Future, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, Mentioned Batfamily (DCU), Originally Posted on Tumblr, Sad Ending, Titans of Tomorrow, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Incoherentbabblings/pseuds/Incoherentbabblings
Summary: Tim ponders what it will take for Stephanie to see that it's probably in her best interest to leave, even if the thought of her absence drives him to madness.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake
Series: Tumblr Ask Game Prompts [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970230
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	He Cannot Ask

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:
> 
> _“Do you even still love me?”_

He cannot bring himself to ask.

Six, four, five words or less. Such small words.

He cannot ask.

It’s almost akin to a demented game. Stephanie said she would not leave. Never willingly. Tim sometimes muses how seriously she takes that oath and wondered what he could do to make her break that promise.

He has nightmares about her breaking that promise.

And so, he does not ask.

He knows he has gone off the rails. Just a little (a lot). Murder is not the big deal he once feared it was. But he knows it still matters to the rest of the family, so he lied. And Steph believed him, even when Cass and Dick did not. When Tim got pushed to the side, condemned, Stephanie had stood in defence of Tim. She did not believe anything of manufactured murders and shootings and tortures and whatever else the other accusations stated. Tim wouldn’t do that (and even if he did, he would have told her, which he hadn’t and hasn't so it’s a lie he’s being set up it’s _not_ true).

How strong was Steph’s faith was in him.

Tim is not so sure she believes him anymore. _He_ thinks she believes she has tied herself to the devil and has resigned herself to seeing it through. 

Hence his wondering how far he must go to get her to leave.

He doesn’t want her to leave.

She doesn’t sleep anymore. And she sits at the dining table for hours, skin grey with stress, staring at nothing. Patrol is hard. Tim often manufactures reasons to split from her so he can do his own thing, and Stephanie can continue being the Golden Girl of Gotham.

And it usually works, as, just for a moment when they reunite, her skin is flushed, and she is smiling. And they kiss joyously, and Tim pretends there isn’t someone with a broken spinal cord three blocks down waiting for an ambulance which will not arrive in time. She finds out, because of course she does, but she says nothing, as there is no way to know for certain Tim was responsible, and yet she grows quieter.

When they are together, when she allows him close, she clings more tightly than she ever did in ten years, begging ‘stay with me Tim don’t leave stay stay _stay come back to me_ ’ and when they finish, she is always crying, as if she is grieving for his death. Tim kisses the tears away, but they are always quickly replaced. She watches him oddly, as if she is looking for an opening to run, run far away (but where would she go, she has no-one) from him, but he won’t forget her begging him to leave with her and how he refused her.

Tim won’t give up on Gotham. But it’s less about providing hope (Robin, Robin where did you go sweet Robin) and more about strangling the city and its inhabitants into behaving. Steph sees this, she tries (bless her she always tries) to be that light for Tim. If she cannot be what the city needs, she will still try for any person who crosses her path.

And it’s not like she never wants for anything. Tim makes sure of that. He’d asked her once if she wanted a baby. Naively he’d thought it would have been good for her. Stephanie had looked at him like he had told her he had burned her birth control without her knowledge. 

Tim does not bring up children again.

“Tim,” her voice drifts over, and Tim is pulled out of his thoughts. He is sat on the bed, his turn for staring at nothing in the silence. Stephanie looms in the doorway.

“Hey, Stephie.”

She smiles sadly and inclines her head. Beautiful. She is so beautiful. He doesn’t say it enough. She is a shell though. No fire. No drive. There are glimpses every now and then, but only after she has been apart from him for long enough for it to spark. It would be better for her if she did leave.

Tim really does not want Stephanie to leave.

And so, he does not ask.

Stephanie enters the room and stands directly in front of him. Tim lets her hold the superior position.

“I can’t lie anymore.”

Oh. It’s time then. 

She continues, “I need to know if this is worth seeing through.”

He should really ask.

“Tim… please…”

Rip off the bandage, let the blood spurt. If he is off the rails now, Stephanie leaving will be the end of any chance redemption, any chance of hope. He’ll be cold, in the dark, bleeding, making sure others felt the same.

“Tim… Do you even still love me?”

She does not like his answer.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on the 20th of September 2020.


End file.
